Boardman patrolmen reject 2-tiered pact

"Jason Loree, township administrator, said the township has to be cognizant of its financial constraints in all of its decisions including employee contracts."

The township was saying things like this 2 years ago but gave its new police chief a $100K per year salary although he did not have OPOTA certification. The cost of this certification was then acquired and paid for by the township, not the chief. So much for being "cognizant" in that decision.

It should be noted that the officers were in agreement with a wage freeze but was not mentioned in this article. Hmmmmm....why not?

We're now talking about making a job that is probably not desirable to most of us, less desirable.

Come on Tug, a wage freeze? When wages are already built upon inconsistent revenue streams like inheritance dollars? Should the taxpayers, many of whom have been taking pay and benefit cuts, be asked for ever increasing property taxes just so the township employees can have the best pay and benefits in the area? Is the audit finding that Boardman is paying $20,000 more per employee than peer communities a lie? If the township isn't in financial straights, why then did they request a levy last year? The public should also ask which side gets to select the arbitrator! You got to love the comment from the patrolmen that after 25 years, it's time to retire. That's certainly not true in the private sector and shouldn't be in the public sector. As for the chief making $100,000, he isn't even the highest paid officer bu a large margin. Actually Tug, whether he had some goofy certification isn't relevant either.

An arbitrator comes from an impartial government agency. Each side has to agree on the arbitrator. Also, until binding arbitration occurs, it's easy to fudge the budget numbers a bit. Each side will have different projections based on current figures.

Do you really want a cop who's been working for 35 years or is in his 60s out there chasing criminals?

The township had no problem spending $300,000 for a grinder they just HAD to have. What's going on with that frinder today? It's up for sale, and the twp. is hoping to get a fraction of what they paid for it. Yet, the twp. wants to pay newly-hired police officers $15.00/hr. Good luck getting quality people with those wages.
For the people who are as fed up with this current administration as I am, just remember this: election day, Tuesday, November 3rd isn't that far off.

Oops, spelling error. I mean grinder, not frinder.

This is for just pay. Add in retirement, medical, dental, eye and the rest, then give an hourly wage.

Then add in the adverse health effects, dangerous work environment, likelihood of being injured multiple times throughout your career, strain on the family (76% divorce rate), constant disrespect from people without the intestinal fortitude to actually go out and do the job themselves, horrible things they see (dead kids and such), knowing each time they say goodbye to their family they may really be saying goodbye forever, facing down fear and terror and nervousness and danger one day, all to put on the uniform again after a couple hours of sleep and do it all over, the fact that each one of them would die to protect you or your family, long hours and sleepless nights (or days), having their every move (even their pay) scrutinized, taking reports from people who are angry at their neighbor for getting grass clippings on their lawn...after just leaving the scene where a child was beaten and burned for crying, carrying the pain of every homicide and suicide and ugly thing they see around for the rest of their lives, chasing an armed subject through a dark alley because he just tried to break in to YOUR house and YOU called the POLICE and so on and so on.......

But, if you ask that overpaid selfish S.O.B. that you hate so much: Why would you face down all of that, knowing you will never make more than 20-30 an hour? He or she will tell you, "because I love the people I serve, and I love this job". THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS WORTH A MILLION DOLLARS. So before you respond and further slam these guys, ask yourself if you would do this job, or are you just bitter. Because last time I checked, these jobs have open testing. If they are so enviable, easy to perform, and pay SO well then start lining up. Somehow, I think that won't happen.

P.S. I intentionally butchered the grammar, just to make a point. So don't try the "you are not educated" attack.

My feelings exactly, Rokscout! There are people in society who absolutely HATE the police...until they NEED the police. Those people can go screw themselves ( I wouldn't want to use the other word. It might offend some of the "highly educated" and "highly informed" people who post comments).

I don't hate the police...I support them as much as I can, but it doesn't mean as a tax payer that I have an endless fountain of funds to give. I've lost my job, I've HAD to take wage reductions, increased insurance payments and copays, etc. You will likely have to do the same. Most of the officers I know that divorced was simply because they had wandering eyes, period, didn't have a thing to do with the job other then to provide opportunity. lost hours of sleep? Working OT and side jobs while it was available, not because a case was burning them out. Although some do! You paint a picture a officers beating themselves up physically and emotionally every day doing their job and this just isn't the truth or no one would be doing the job. A police officers life can be tuff, some times down right awful, but not every day and it's a life he/she chose. AND YES, benefits,wages, etc. will be scrutinized because they are TAX DOLLARS.

1.Well said Rokscout!

2. Apollo: OPOTA is not "Some goofy certification." It is mandated training by the State of Ohio. OPOTA - Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy. Without meeting the requirements you cannot be an officer in Ohio. Not everyone can meet the physical, psychological, and/or intellectual requirements of our profession.

3. $15.00/ hour? Remember you get what you pay for! Uneducated, unqualified officers will cost your community more in the long run with Federal civil rights violations such as claims of excessive force, violating search and seizure court rulings, poor decision making skills, and possibly corruption within your department. I would hate to see a return to the policing of the sixties and seventies which caused in part by low wages and undesirables becoming law enforcement officers.

4. Private sector employees thought we were fools when we were earning $12.00 -$15.00/ hour in the seventies and early eighties while they were being paid $20+/ hour. We've finally increased the wages to where they should be, and to where we can attract quality candidates. Now some people in the private sector believe we are overpaid.

5. I am a veteran officer/supervisor in Trumbull County. I am not connected to BPD in anyway other than a fellow officer who understands the job.

I guess we only have good officers in Boardman and similar areas where the pay is $20 and hour or higher! I feel sorry for all those other munici-palities that employee all those unqualified officers!

In my opinion at $30.00 an hour they are grossly underpaid.

Joebag hit the nail on the head. It'd be nice if we could all make 100K with little health care contributions and retirement at 50 with a nice little going away present consisting of that accumulated sick and vacation time at the wage you made when retirement hit. It'd be nice if we all got shift differential, clothing allowances, 4 hours for attending court, 35 vacation days when reaching 30 years, and take home cars.

But most of us in the private sector don't have anything even remotely that good. In fact, neither does Austintown and Miami township both considered peer communities.

The fact is the median household income in Boardman is 55K. So should our safety forces make almost twice the median wage? Should their wages and benefits be based on real revenues or one time revenues?

Now don't tell us how dangerous the jobs are. They aren't. Maybe in Gary Indiana or Newark New Jersey but not in Boardman and other suburban communities.

You simply cannot drain the taxpayers just because you think the safety forces deserve $30/hour. (that is in fact low since the average officer makes well over 80K in wages alone including OT)

Don't believe for one minute that by paying higher wages Boardman gets better officers than Austintown or Youngstown. See Kendall and others. Most of the current officers have been with Boardman long before they started using the inheritance money to inflate the wages and benefits above where they should be.

The inheritance usage for wages and benefits is the issue here. You simply can't build in cost based on revenues that are one time or vary sometimes by as much as 5 million. The independent REAL accountant even said that. (So did the audit)

The taxpayers can only afford so much. When many are losing jobs, losing benefits, taking cuts, moving away, facing bankruptcies, and foreclosures, the public sector MUST have the fortitude to provide relief to the taxpayers and quit thinking the golden trough is forever.

This wasn't an issue a few years ago. Now that the private sector has taken the hit, people who wouldn't have even considered taking a job in the public sector are crying poor and eying enviously.

Maybe you should have picked a different field eh?

TB,
I apologize for assuming from some other posts that you are a radical liberal. I see we just disagreed on that issue. Thank you for the support on this one!

You are right, if the economy is booming again in three of four years and the private sector is thriving. Public safety forces may ask for a raise and people will just ignore them and treat them like the lowlife's that they see them as.

What's wrong with liberals?

Nothing, as long as we can all get along, and have our nation's best interest in mind :-)

Rokscout and Trumbull_Reader nice posts! Well said.

TB above acts as though the public sector and private sector aren't connected. Where does the public sector get its funding? Just like when a company isn't making money and therefore can't pay its employees more money and provide them better benefits, the public sector is going to feel the pain that the private sector is feeling. We fund YOU. When our wages and benefits shrink, the chances are less likely we will pass a levy. Tax revenues are going down because of sales tax and property tax shortfalls. The choice you have is either wage and benefit cuts or layoffs.

I guess the public workers simply don't understand how things work.

TB, I chose widely.

Wisely not widely.

Boardman's administration has been run into the ground for years. Gallito and Miller are as useless as "those things" on a boar, giving perks to friends and family members......as for the police and their payrates, YOU DONT LIKE IT MOVE SOMEWHERE ELSE and get a job as a cop. I appreciate the police in Boardman and when I need them I would hope that they are available. But I think that adjusting labor contracts at this time shows a lack of respect for the people they SERVE AND PROTECT. This is another example of the strongarm tactics that unions use to say to the world that they don't care about financial troubles of ANYONE. Unions bleed everything they touch dry. There is no allowance for anyone to make any type of profit when a union is involved. All a union is is a legal street gang, taking everything they can. I am looking forward to the opportunity to get the hell out of Boardman at the first chance. The ship is sinking thanks to our fiscally unresponsible leaders and the cancer that is the population of Youngstown moving in to rob and pillage. Women and children and non union members first!!!!!

"TB,
I apologize for assuming from some other posts that you are a radical liberal. I see we just disagreed on that issue. Thank you for the support on this one!"

No prob. I'm not liberal on everything.

Apollo, I understand well how the market works and how public sector relates to private sector. So judging by your logic, when the private sector is flush again and rebounds (as economic indicators are showing signs of long-awaited recovery), then the public sector should be expecting some big bonuses and raises?

I got news for you. Levies in the Valley were failing long before the latest round of economic hardship. It's more a matter of priorities than anything. Plenty of 50 somethings driving around on new Harley-Davidsons. plenty of jet-skiiers out on Lake Milton, etc.

We are all entitled to our opinions....simply stated, mine is this....I do support our safety forces, but not with a "carte blanche" mentality. I clearly know and understand what it is to be a police officer. I do not support the current wage structure. It's too high. I will not support another levy, for more reasons then just the wage issue.

They are greedie Pigs ! They'll eat and do anything. Typical Pig ! Work for less period.